Oh crap, she had gotten to the love part. He knew it instantly the way she was distracted, the way she remained in some kind of daze as her fingers gripped the paper like it was some kind of lifeline to a different sort of life. He knew that look; he had seen officers doing much the same thing with letters from home just before they shipped out to volatile territory, how they folded it up neatly, tucked it in their uniforms like those letters were the most precious thing in the world. He knew the look and he saw it reflected in the protectiveness of Stephanie to his letter.

There was no talking his way out of that. He shifted on his bunk, drawing his knees up a bit so he could rest his chest on them and grasp his ankles. "Ah well, I did address it to you, though... I didn't know where you were living so I left it with the clerk," he said lamely, shrugging his shoulders a bit. Why did he feel like he was about to be lead to the firing squad for dishonourable discharge punishment?

"It seems to me you probably read it all," he intoned softly, offering her a small smile, harder to come by now that he had seen so much combat. "I won't lie about it. What I wrote in there was true and accurate, but we're friends until the very end, Stephanie. I would never sacrifice our friendship based on my feelings, and I would never pressure you to feel like you had to feel the same for me. Friends until the end of the line, no matter what."